Wednesday, June 25, 2014

What in God's Name

What’s
God’s name?If you’re Muslim, it’s
Allah, a name that means “God” and has been used for thousands of years before
the Prophet Muhammad lived.At one time,
Allah was one of 365 gods honored at the Kaaba shrine in Mecca long before Muhammad
identified Him as the sole God.

Malaysian Supreme Court

This question arose because of a court case in Malaysia that ended this week.There, the High Court refused to allow a
Christian newspaper to use the name Allah to identify God.That left the publication with "only" a few
options.

The
editors could call Him “Yahweh.”That’s
the name from the Bible. Moses asked God for His name while
conversing at the burning bush and was told “I am that I am.”Actually, in Hebrew, that could also
translate as “I will be what I will be” and a variety of other related options.

The
name was so sacred that only the Jewish high priest could say it, and then only
on the sacred holiday of Yom Kippur, in a back room of the Temple where no one
else could hear.Anyone else using it
could be charged with blasphemy.That
prohibition disappeared with the end of the high priest position and the
destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E.

Statue of the dying Adonis

There
are other possibilities, too, such as Adonai, which is the Hebrew version of
the Greek god Adonis; Elohim, which is Hebrew for “gods;” Ha-shem, which is
Hebrew for “The name;” and many more.The Bible contains a laundry list.

Editors
could say Jehovah, but that’s an invented name stemming from translating
confusion.Jewish scribes didn’t copy
YHWH in the sacred books, but used a couple of letters to indicate the holy name.Later translator couldn’t fathom what the
letters met and came up with what they thought was the proper translation.

The
newspaper can’t use the name Jesus.Muslims would
be offended if God was given a clearly Christian identity in a country that’s
predominately Islam.

Fr. Andrew

"We are in limbo," said Father Lawrence Andrew,
editor of the newspaper.Ironically, he
was using a specifically Christian term, a reference of the place where dead
souls wait for their entry into heaven in unofficial Catholic beliefs.

Nevertheless,
it’s an apt description.The case
started in 2007.He had to wait seven
years for a verdict.

Malaysian
authorities who threatened to revoke the newspaper’s license said they were
concerned that if non-Muslim literature used the name Allah,
Muslims could become confused and convert away from Islam, which is a crime in
many parts of the country.

Kaaba

That’s a very odd claim.After all, the Prophet Muhammad heard Jewish and Christian visitors to
his hometown of Mecca use the word “Allah” as a generic term for God and
apparently thought the visitors were referring to the god whose image was in
the Kaaba.He felt inspired then to
combine the monotheistic religions in a single faith he called Islam, which centered
on the one God already worshiped by Christians and Jews.

In essence, he was doing the opposite of what the Malaysian justices decided in what was widely considered a politically expedient decision.

Despite the ruling, the issue is not settled anyway."We need to fight this case to end,
because we have to fight for justice when justice is derided or denied," Fr.
Andrew told CNN."We have a moral
obligation to champion the cause of minorities. We have a responsibility to
uphold religious freedom."

Actually, the ban only affects the newspaper.Malaysian Christians can legally say “Allah”
in church, a government statement announced."Malaysia is a multi-faith
country, and it is important that we manage our differences peacefully, in
accordance with the rule of law and through dialogue, mutual respect and
compromise," the statement said.

Sounds like semantics.

What else? The whole debate about God’s name is just
that: a lot of hot air that, in
Shakespeare’s words, is “signifying nothing.”After all, it’s likely any god would know his//her own name regardless of
what any human said or wrote.

Long-time
religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious
history.He also speaks at various
religious organizations throughout Florida.You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.net.He is the author of the famed Unauthorized
Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel
Writers Get Their Information; Noel:
The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols;and Dummies Guide to Comparative
Religion.His books are available on Amazon.com,
Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.He can also be followed on Twitter.

You
can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at
http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1

About Me

During his career, Bill has been a newspaper reporter, magazine writer/editor, advertising copywriter and writer/editor of NASCAR programs, among other jobs. He has won three international awards for stories and programs while working for International Speedway Corp. and was named 2000 Florida Feature Writer of the Year.
He has published four books to date and his writing has appeared in hundreds of local, regional, state and national publications.